The essential checklist: everything you need at uni

The booze has barely settled in your stomach and already it feels you’ve been glittering at university for a million years. With a roof over your head sorted, the next priority is chatting up the neighbours... still, probably worth checking you can happily scrawl a tick beside all of the below. And look, we might have missed a few things, but these suggestions are just somewhere to start...

Important documents

A few passport photos

A passport or driving license

National Insurance number

NHS number

List of useful contacts (crawl the university website and all info you've been sent.)

Any other university documents you've been sent... just in case.

Around the house

Kitchen

Obviously, this depends on whether you'll be going self catering or not. But, assuming you are:

Cutlery - but don't go too mad, you'll only lose it.

Pans

A baking tray

Washing up liquid

Bowls and plates

A corkscrew (you'll be the hero of the evening)

A bottle opener (ditto...)

A sharp knife - those onions won't slice themselves...

Glasses

Can-opener

Cheese grater. Of course, someone else might have one, but it's always a good idea.

Tin foil

Dish cloth

Oven gloves

Bathroom

There's a lot of stuff here. So long as you weren't too busy polishing your Mac to pack a toothbrush, you'll probably be fine. Figure out what you need by running through a day from start to finish and noting down everything you need. Still, as a decent starting point:

Toothbrush and toothpaste

Deodorant

Towel

Bath mat

Toilet roll

Soap/shower gel

Razor

Shaving soap/cream/gel

Shampoo and conditioner

Hairbrush/comb

The rest

Presuming you don't live in your bathroom or kitchen then you'll probably need to pick up a few other bits and pieces. Have you remembered bins? Bin liners?

How about:

Coat hangers

Dustpan and brush (you'd be surprised how often this will come in handy...)

Bedding - two sets (so while one is washing, you don't do without)

A mattress protector - because who knows what happened in this bed last year?! (Sorry...)

Clothes horse (if you don't have a dryer)

Laundry bag (a 'bag for life' from a supermarket makes a decent alternative if you wash your clothes regularly enough to avoid a build up)

Detergent/tabs for the washing machine

Extension leads -so you can plug in your laptop, phone, hair straighteners etc... make sure it's 'surge protected' or you run the risk of ruining your best gear

A desk lamp

A notice board... and some post-its to cover it

White-tac for your posters; don't mark the walls

Door stopper. Come on, keep the door open, be friendly. Although not, obviously, if you have company...

Work

Sadly, your education matters a whole lot more than it ever did. The worst part? When you get the end of the term, lecturers don't swap teaching for watching a film. Nightmare.

As well as the all important laptop, you should invest in:

Pen and paper, for lecture notes (how quaint!)

A memory stick ...the more you can store, the better. And go for USB 3, if your computer has it, as it really is that much faster.

A diary. Using one online (Google calendar, for instance) makes the most sense but having it in black and white helps.

A sturdy bag. Step away from the Prada....we're talking something the army would envy. Make sure it can carry your laptop and your books.

A printer. Ok, so it may not seem an essential but if you're working at home and have to get the essay in, you're going to curse the bus journey down to the library. It's more convenient and will, over your course, may work out cheaper than paying per sheet at the uni services. Why not split one with a few mates?

Have you sorted your possessions and gadget insurance? It sounds boring -ok, ok it is boring- but it's also essential. When you hit exams with your loan running dry and walk home to find your laptop in the throws of spontaneous combustion, you'll be grateful you invested.

Speaking of insurance, is everything else covered? Car insurance? Or should you be thinking about your motorbike?

And of course, you gorgeous thing, with everyone chasing after your number, be sure to have a phone contract which can handle your dazzling array of social demands.

Money

Anything else?

Home comforts. You'll probably end up missing home, if only a little. Go on, pack your childhood toys. Why would you leave your bestie behind?!

There's only one thing left to buy: duct tape. For fixing anything from a broken bag to a bad bikini wax... or for sticking the weird kid to the wall.

Of course, you can always go off-list but don't go overboard... it's a waste of money and you'll only end up with unused belongings eaten up by dust or 'borrowed' by the flatmate who lives in their room. Make sure you've got all your important documents and some loo roll -never, ever confuse the two- and everything else will fall into place.

The Boring Bit

SMS wants to help you live the life you want on the budget you're stuck with but we aren't the Economic Bible, so please don't take our word as gospel as we can't accept any liability if our tips aren't right for you – everyone's different, after all.

We read our links before posting them but we aren't responsible for their content.

Top Links

Quickly, we need to verify you're a student first.

Verify your student account

Log in / Register new student account

StudentConnect, is our brand new student verification platform.
You can sign up using your uni portal or your academic email ( ending in .ac.uk or .edu ).
Also if you already have a StudentMoneySaver account, you can use the same email and password to log in.